Felix Ever After – Kacen Callender
100-Word (or Less) Synopsis: [from the dustjacket] Felix Love has never been in love — and, yes, he’s painfully aware of the irony. He desperately wants to know what it’s like and why it seems so easy for everyone but him to find someone. When an anonymous student begins sending him transphobic messages, Felix comes up with a plan for revenge. What he didn’t count on: his catfish scenario landing him in a quasi–love triangle.
Expectation: A YA romance with a different point-of-view.
Reality: A disconnected effort with a strong plot focused on identity and acceptance brought down by the typical YA tropes of too smart, too woke kids being mad at the world.
Recommended For: People seeking diverse YA stories, although Felix’s actions make it difficult to root for him.
Why I Read It: It was in my SIL’s library, and I wanted to bring a trans perspective into my Pride month reading.
My Take:
There was something that felt disconnected in Kacen Callender’s young adult debut.
On the one hand, it was a deeply personal and engaging story about embracing your identity and finding independence, but on the other it was the typical YA drivel with half-baked plots to manufacture drama.
While it was refreshing to see a trans character get to experience the standard YA romance, Felix was, at times, a difficult person to root for. While I’m not asking for sainthood, there were elements of his personality that were not likable — and his friends were even worse — and it felt like everyone got off the hook too easily for some of the crap they pulled.
The basic plot is privileged kid “Rent” meets “Cyrano de Bergerac” with shades of “Cruel Intentions.” That’s rich fodder for an outsider — in this case Felix, more for his economic than trans status — to introduce us to world’s unlike our own, but a catfishing plot, love triangle and entitled attitudes made it hard to connect with the story.
First, Felix aspires to attend Brown University but instead of working on his art portfolio to secure a scholarship, he regularly skips class to smoke weed with his best friend and bemoans his father for being unsupportive.
Speaking of his father, while he is struggling to fully accept Felix’s transition, and did use his dead name, he’s made a ton of sacrifices as a single parent, including securing the necessary medical treatment for Felix and paying tuition for him to attend private school.
I remember what it’s like to be a teen and thinking your parents cannot do anything right, but the level of entitlement that Felix shows is off the charts unreasonable. Maybe I can’t see the forest through the trees with what Callender was trying to do with these plots and am interpreting them too literally.
While I did consider DNFing this book, what kept me engaged was Felix truly discovering who is supposed to be — both through art and his first relationship. However, I don’t think the means used to explore these themes justify the end.
While Callender presented these ideas in a way that sharp and unique, it sometimes felt a little preachy and combative. Maybe the story was too woke, or I’m too old for this type of YA.
Still, I cannot fault them for taking this approach. There needs to be faster and more comprehensive change for how trans people are supported in the U.S. and around the world. If “Felix” can introduce someone to these diverse realities, then it serves a purpose far greater than entertainment.
Logan Rozos does a decent job with the narration, but now a few days since finishing it, I cannot recall anything that stood out— positive or negative with the overall performance.
Rating (story): 3/5 stars
Rating (narration): 3/5
Formats: Audiobook (SIL’s library)
Dates read: June 28 - 29, 2021
Multi-tasking: Good to go. I ended up finishing it at 2x speed and don’t feel like much was missed.
